Rating: 
Summary: A little flabby, but otherwise excellent
Review: I have read the book, and bought the DVD. In a way they compliment each other; the book provides the real story, and the film allows you to read the book and have the characters in your mind. There were a couple of extraneous things that could have been done away with without damaging the film. For example, the John Cussak love interest did not appear in the book at all, and really didn't add to the film, although Ms. Eastwood did a good enough job. The book was less about the murder trial, and more about the bizzare inhabitants the author encountered. I think Clint Eastwood did a great balancing act; that is to say, struck a good balance between displaying these excentrics and moving the plot along. The Lady Chablis and Minerva were the two most interesting characters in the film. The DVD itself has some interesting extras, including interviews with some of the people on whom the book was based. I liked the fact that they included many of them in the movie; for example, the real-life defense lawyer plays the judge in the movie, and many of the ladies at the card club played in that scene. Overall, I recommend this film highly, especially if you are into flicks that are character-driven, and take their time unfolding.
Rating: 
Summary: Southern Culture on the Skids!
Review: The beauty of Savannah is captured in this quirky tale of a wealthy gentlemen charged with the murder of his crass protege. The camera does justice to the elegance of the city, its buildings, homes, and park-like squares. Characters abound, in every sense of the word. Less would have been more in the case of Lady Chablis, Savanah's most famous female impersonator. However, Kevin Spacey was great as the central character of the movie, John Cusack was great as usual, and the rest of the cast was up to their lead. This is a film whose charm comes from its fine cinematography, interesting plot, and particularly the eccentricities of its subjects. Definitely different, and very entertaining.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice cinematography, but watered-down story
Review: An ensemble piece that could have been, but wasn`t...I agree with other reviews that have said the movie lacked a certain atmosphere. It was o.k., but not the potboiler it probably was meant to be. (2 1/2 stars) I saw this, incidently, before I picked up the book. I recommend reading the book first, and then renting the movie if you`re really curious how it was adapted for the screen. It made me wonder why some details (and people) were left out and some were embellished upon the way they were. (The relationship between the Savannah woman and the N.Y. reporter, for one...could it be to "balance" the homosexual relationships alluded to in the movie with a heterosexual one? Another would be the way "justice was served" in the end...a good example when less is more, probably, but it meant more screen time for Jude Law, I suppose.) Incidently, the real Lady Chablis` appearance wasn`t the eyebrow-raiser to me, it was the person who played the judge at Williams` trial.
Rating: 
Summary: Uneven, confused movie doesn't know what it wants to be...
Review: There are hundreds of reviews here so I won't bother rehashing the entire plot, but here's my take: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a confused film that isn't sure what it wants to be. Is it a murder-mystery? A romantic comedy? A courtroom drama? A funloving adventure into a surreal southern landscape? A dark medication on the nature of the truth? Honestly, it's all of these things, and it does most of them pretty well. The problem is, you never really get a sense for what the core issue or conflict is. So when the film ends, it veers in a direction that the previous 2 hours and 15 minutes really didn't prep you for, and personally I felt like it was a little contrived. The core of the movie is a murder/investigation/trial, and most of that was material I enjoyed. The problem is, Midnight... crams so many subplots and divergences into the story that everything feels sort of wattered down and left this viewer unsatisfied. I suspect that a sprawling, scattershot look at Savannah, Georgia might be pretty darn interesting, but as a movie it felt overlong, logically inconsistent and frankly a little boring. Every half hour or so I kept checking the timer and wondering when the story was going to start. Then it ended.
Rating:
Summary: PURE RUBBISH...boring and too LONG !
Review: MIDNIGHT in the GARDEN of GOOD and EVIL: I kept waiting and waiting for this movie to get interesting. Every time it seemed like it was going to, nothing seemed to follow. And I mean NOTHING!
What's up with the UGLY transvestite? Is that the best looking black drag-queen Hollywood could mustar up? This sick looking slog looked like he was either on crack(no pun intended) or was in his last days of his HIV years. Probably both! It made me laugh every time people acted surprised this sickly looking, bag of sticks, was really a man. People acted shocked and surprised that what they thought was a "woman" with a deep voice, ugly as a bulldog and had no figure, was really a man. SHOCKING! And he kept refering himself as a "lady". Oh that was funny, but I don't think it was supposed to be. Sorry Clint, no sale here. I was a cab driver for about a year in Tulsa, OK and seen better looking drag-queens than the one, that was supposed to be a diva, in this snore fest of a movie. This movie is miserable and I don't see why it was even released to DVD? There are so many more movies that truly deserve the attention and they chose this slop! The picture quality is very poor, as well. I paid $6 for it and got ripped off!
In final: This movie truly is BORING and very hard to watch. If you're going to watch it, good luck. It's definately no treasure of the South, that's for sure.
Rating:
Summary: Diamond In The Rough
Review: It is truly difficult to find any movie today that can capture one's attention for 2 hours and 35 minutes, yet "Midnight" does. While the story itself is somewhat predictable, Eastwood has done a superb job of crafting intricate and fascinating character studies of Southern civility and gentility, and those who abide by such qualities. So much so that you lose track of its length as the inherent likability of the main characters hooks you early on. Based on the actual life of wealthy Savannah antique dealer/power broker Jim Williams (an outstanding Kevin Spacey), the only man in Georgia's history to be tried four times for the same crime, the movie elegantly examines the eccentricities and Code of the local populace, premised on a veneer of gracious 18th. century politeness that covers the sometimes decadent and bizarre Savannah lifestyle of the 1980's. If muggers exist here, they would all say "May I?" and "Thank you so much!" Our window to this world exists in the persona of magazine writer John Kelso (perfectly infused with Yankee determination by John Cusack), as he peels back the layers of the real from the apparent while helping to investigate William's sudden shooting of his gay lover (Jude Law) in alleged self-defense. Along the way he encounters such notables as an irrepressible drag queen, an omniscient, motherly voo-doo priestess and everyone's favorite, the wannabe geriatric urban terrorist who sports live horseflies tethered to his shirt on threads while clutching a bottle of poison perpetually destined for the city's water supply. In the end, the movie's outcome tantalyzingly follows Spacey's prophetic words from early in the movie, when Cusack asks him if he's interested in the hidden work discovered underneath a recent painting the latter just acquired: "Well, sport, I sort of enjoy not knowing."
Rating:
Summary: Bravo
Review: Kevin Spacey is just great in this performance. John is just wonderful too! Just a great performance overall. A must see and own.
Rating:
Summary: A TOUCH DRAWN OUT, BUT SPLENDID.
Review: No, it's not the book, but no movie ever could be. A slavish adaptation would have been a truly boring film, not to mention way longer than this effort. But with the likes of Spacey, Cussack and Jude Law this was surely not a trivial pursuit either, especially with Clint Eastwood at the helm. Unlike many people, I love the relaxed pace with which his movies unfold -- Dirty Harry movies, Bridges of Madison County, The Rookie etc. "Midnight" had me glued to the sceen within 10 minutes. On the surface a murder mystery, and it is intriguing although not entirely unpredictable, this is actually more of a character study as all Eastwood endeavours are. The backdrop of Savannah is amazing, and the acting above par, especially Spacey as a homosexual Williams. On the quibbles side, I was irritated by what I felt were John's and Chablis' hyperactive roles in the court case, but I suppose I can understand the reasoning behind it. Just as irritating, and entirely disposable, was the romantic subplot. Also, the Mandy character is sapped by taking a big, beautiful, interesting woman and making her a generic cute chick. Alison Eastwood does what she can with this bland creation, but I have a feeling that the movie character never would have been featured in the book. These minor notes could have perhaps condensed the movie a touch, but that's not to say that this a prime-time topnotch film that you have to watch if you care about meaningful cinema.
Rating:
Summary: Garden of Good and Evil Produces Weeds
Review: Clint Eastwood should have been the last person to direct "Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil". He completely misses the issues of homophobia, racism and ridiculous elitism of the book's true story. The film falls flat and so does Eastwood's attempt at any humor as well. The drag queen, who brought the book to life and gave us some relief from the overall darkness of the book, is almost non-existent. The issues 'she' seriously brought forth in the book about racism and homophobia are never brought to the screen. Some of the quirky characters who also gave the book distinction are omitted too so what we have is a story about southern decadence, charm and most of all a southern city--Savannah, Georgia--that was a character of itself--cut to the quick and edited to the point of boredom. The only thing growing is this graden is weeds.
Rating:
Summary: VERY ENCHANTING, MAKES ME WANT TO GO TO SAVANNAH
Review: i adore this movie. the movie just wraps you up in mystery and atmosphere and just makes you want to go to savannah. the cinematography is just gorogeous to put it bluntly. but the best part of the movie is the performances. i think that clint eastwood was able to direct each performance just as the character really is in real life. the standout performance though was not an act but the real thing. i am talking about chablis (i hope i spelt that right). i have rarely seen anyone one more funny and comfortable with themselves. she know exactly who she is and is not afraid to show it. she even offers to show her candy at one point. i love john cusak, he plays a new york reporter very well in such a small town. kevin spacey is one of the best out there today and his performance here was very worthy of oscar attention. jude law is very attention grabbing in this movie for the short time he is in it. all of these factors go together very nicely to make a fantastic movie. you really see the culture come out of this movie. you also get to see all the different people that inhabit savannah, and for me it is interesting to see how people act in different parts of the country, because it shows me how different we all are and how different everyone lives their life. as a side not, i fyou have not read the book you should, it has a lot more in it than the movie could include. very great read. also for more info on the lady chablis, you might want to try and find her biography. i believe that it is called hiding my candy, but i cant recall the exact title at this moment. i hope everyone loves the movie and the books because i sure know that i did.
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